J-La, thanks for throwing water on that wildfire of silliness.

Do you think the Wade signing means he'll pretty much be slotted in at RG, with Poochie and Moley Russell's Wart as the de facto backup OL, or will they keep looking to add dudes through FA or draft?

I meant LG...

ITA sween

who farted this blog stinks?

Protection against chickenpox slowly fades in children immunized against the disease, suggests a study that adds support to a recommendation for a booster shot of the vaccine.

The study found the incidence of chicken pox increased over time among vaccinated children -- from 1.6 cases per person-year one year after immunization to 9 cases per person-year five years later and more than 58 cases per person-year nine years later, according to the report.

no smoke = no fire nice work Jason LA.

From the previous thread read the book "the Blindside" evolution of football, created by the arrival of LT, effect on the o-line. great read.

That was a BIG 3

Nate, which player would be Moley Russell's Wart? [nice Uncle Buck pull btw]

75-70. MD to the line with 1:09 left

77-70 44.0 left

BALLGAME!

Jason LaCanfora -

Thanks for the timely update on Russell/Campbell. Sounds like the agents are trying to earn extra money the easy way.

Any contact with Redskins O-Line coaches to determine who might be plugged in where? (Wade, Pucillo, etc)

The unfortunate thing is the Skins FO has made such boneheaded moves over the years, any rumor, no matter how outlandish, seems to fall within the realm of possibility.

Anyway, thanks JLaC for again weeding out the nonsense so we don't work ourselves up too badly over nothing. I don't know what they pay you, but whatever it is, it isn't enough.

Moley Russell's Wart = Molinaro.

Wasn't he drafted as a D lineman and then bumped over to the O line? Wondering if that was a pro version of the high school, "You're fat, dumb and slow... offensive guard." which sween commented on.

Congrats Terp fans. Go ACC!

Hoyas and Monarchs are next local teams up, right?

The Russell thing about threw me out the window with idiocy. Of course its' the Skins so maybe the yahoos and Yahoo (ba-ding) figured it had to be true because if it's about football and it's DC there must a QB controversy.

Skins website says Yoder has SIGNED.

With all the Raider trading down the #1 talk I wonder if Tampa is involved at all. They have Simms, Plummer and Garcia so maybe they're looking to pull of a deal.

Inane question time - The sites that have live scores from NCAA tourney - is the computer "hooked up" to the scoreboard so to speak or is there some poor schmoe whose job it is to input the score?

Oral Roberts sucks.

sfskin, I bet it's the poor schmoe angle, but who knows.

I love espn's scoreboard with its goofy clinical play-by-play terminology: "So-and-so hits Two Point Dunk Shot." With that kind of description, it feels like you're right there in the arena.

Oral Roberts sucks.

Posted by: | March 15, 2007 01:56 PM

Gawd I think that's worse than "the yahoos from Yahoo" - wa wa wa waaa

Thanks for the update on Russell rumors JLaC.

Can you identify any O-Line possibilities that may be available after the typical June 1 cap related cuts?

I wonder what the going rate is for a poor schmoe who watches games and posts scores to a web site. Sounds like a low-stress position. With the right benefits package, it might be worth it.

Where do I apply?

Congrats Terp fans. Go ACC!

Hoyas and Monarchs are next local teams up, right?

Posted by: Nate in the PDX | March 15, 2007 01:44 PM

Nate- Yes, Hoyas and ODU playing now. Both games very low scoring. Man, I really should "work" at work.

4-12 my manager is running the office pool. So he can't say sht to me about work today. lol

The first two days of the NCAA BBall tournament have to rate as the lowest productivity days of the year. Productivity rises gradually as brackets are busted.

Well, we signed two "Todd's" within one week :-)

Last night on my favorite network (the NFLN) there was talk about Cleveland taking Quinn and Peterson dropping all the way back to 10 or 12.

I'm actually at work today (doing performance reviews with my staff), but have Slingbox in the background.

I love the Tournament. Second best sports event, right after the NFL playoffs.

Ohio State in the South and Florida in the Midwest.

Does this make sense to anyone?

jm- Our boss hates basketball. Doesn't know why we watch it or care about. I know, I know, he's not a "core" guy.

I'm actually at work today (doing performance reviews with my staff), but have Slingbox in the background.

Posted by: P Diddy | March 15, 2007 02:21 PM

**************************************

Gotta love the Slingbox. It's the only thing that makes going to the office bearable.

OK tech folks. What's Slingbox? Remember, I'm the guy who still can't figure out how people can now type on their phones (texting, WTF?) and talk on their computers...

new post

The name's Poochie D.
And I rock the telly.
I'm half Joe Camel and a third Fonzarelli.
I'm the Kung-Fu hippie,
from Gangsta City.
I'm a rappin' surfer.
You the fool I pity.

4-12,

It's a device you can connect to your cable box/dvr/etc and a router to watch tv remotely anywhere with an internet connection. Pretty cool device, actually. I watch what's on the tv at home in my bedroom from my laptop, on my pc in the office, and on my Treo when I'm stuck in traffic.

Candidates For the All-Todd Hall Of Fame

Todd Heap - TE
Todd Pinkston - WR
Todd Johnson - Safety
Todd Yoder - TE
Todd Wade - OT
Todd Sauerbrun - punter
Todd Herremans - OG
Todd Bouman - QB
Todd Collins - QB
Todd Londot - TE
Todd Peterson - K
Todd France - K
Todd McClure - C

Todd Marinovich - QB

That sounds very cool. Now, I have to google Treo to see what that is. (at least I know the googles!)

Nice work, Mole.

I think we currently lead the league in Todds (Yoda, T-Wade and Clipboard Collins).

Per NFL.com, the Falcons have Todds McClure and Weiner. The Rams picked up Todd Johnson to go with Todd Steussie. So they're right on our heels.

Just wanted to say thanks for answering my email today, J-La. You rock!

Don't forget Todd Flanders. He really tore it up in the pee-wee league before being cut by Coach Simpson.

Go VCU!!! Spank the dookie out of the Dukies!

Richmond Representin'

Damn, if they could just get that Treo thing to do diapers, I'd have to get one!

Looks like the Hoyas have things well in hand.

How are the Monarchs looking? Anybody caught some of that game? Is this going to one of those 'close until halftime' games where they just crumple after the break?

As a Tidewater kid I am hoping the best for them.

Some people call it a Slingbox. I reckon I call it a Kaiserbox. mmmm hmmm.

4-12, the diapers comment... are you one of the recent dads? I know we've had a few blog babies reported up here in the past few months.

You dudes could coach up J-La with some war stories about life with a newborn. I'm sure Chloe is old enough that he's forgotten all about those happy first few weeks. The poop, the puke, etc.

Nate- Oh yeah. She's a little over 3 months already. Time is flying.

spread your cheeks

ODU hanging around. Tied at 29 with 12 plus to go. Hey, it seems like a #12 beats a #5 every year...

stuck er in the ol balloon knot

Nate, newborn baby poop is pure joy compared to the other side of potty training. It doesn't stink and it barely looks like poop (more like snot). Mrs. dcsween is expecting in July. [#3, which means 3 and out, bring on the punter]. The crappy part is the interrupted sleep ...

A thought about punters. More specifically, personal punter protectors. Why is it that SKINS is the only team that has one? We are the only team that has Sean Taylor! I wonder if they needed to assign the job to Archuleta b/c the sight of Derrick Frost just made Sean Taylor see red and tackle him b/c he's a punter.

[Much more reasonable to have Sean Taylor be synonomous with tackling punters, and not so much about loogies or ATM theft protection.]

btw, RI welcome shout to "Jason B." Clears up loads of confusion.

"We are on day 34 of the Panda (Todd Wade) Watch...I'm told that I cannot go into the park, he will literally rip my arms off...Get out here you Panda (Todd Wade) Jerk!"

I am boldly watching tourney games at my computer and defying anyone to say anything to me with an 'Antoine Jackson from In Living Color' stare. One giant chooch who comes by all the time goes:

'Hey...tournament huh? How's Syracuse doing? I went there...'

I go: 'Great, they're up 20.'

chooch.

It doesn't stink and it barely looks like poop (more like snot).

Posted by: dcsween | March 15, 2007 03:26 PM

Looks more like guacamole for us so far. Don't even want to think about toilet training after hearing so many horror stories.
And I look up, and Butler has gone on a 12-0 run. So much for ODU and the upset pick.

How many of you suckas picked ODU in the pool??

For anyone looking up from the first round, another thought about what it is CRITICAL to draft a quality tight end in the first three rounds THIS year ...

If memory serves, Chris Cooley becomes RFA next year. Dockery got SICK money ... as a guard. The RFA story of the year, Wes Welker, commanded a second and seventh round pick, but even with the new RFA tender categories (can Cooley even be tendered higher than the third round compensation category?), I'm thinking that he becomes one of the most expensive RFAs, ever. Even if we can afford to keep him (i.e., match another team's absurd offer), it becomes nearly impossible the next year. After that, Cooley is looking to make what will then be called "Cooooooooley money."

To put it mildly, it will be MUCH harder to re-sign Cooley than it was to re-sign Betts. Am I wrong on this?

The "Entourage" gang are ragging on the Wiz in a new - to me, at least - DirectTV national ad. (They decline tics Ari got for them for the Kobes vs the Agent 0s.) Guess that means a new high (or low) for the local professional basketball team.

Figured you internet tourney addicts were at least missing the commercials - plus GT is now killing the third leg of the Visa Triple Crown so I gotta blog about something.

dcsween- It's worse than that. Captain Chaos is UFA after this coming season.

I've just been informed that Visa is no longer the sponsor of the TC - my bust.

And 4th: yeah, I'm at least one of those suckas. Damn, damn.

Which of these remaining Redskins free agents would you like to see the team re-sign?

LB Warrick Holdman


TE Brian Kozlowski


OT Jim Molinaro


OT Todd Wade


TE Todd Yoder

NFL.com's Adam Schefter reports that free agent offensive lineman Todd Wade has agreed to terms with the Redskins. However, the Redskins have not announced a signing or issued a press release about Wade.

Oh well, I bid ODU adieu.

I think we all agree that re-signing Cooley and SeanTay should be the top priority of the summer, after scoring tickets to Aerosmith in Houston. We MUST do this especially after seeing the nutso FA market this year.

Three months old, that's awesome, 4-12. And congrats on baby #3, sween. Mrs. Nate and I are expecting baby #2 later in the year. Good times abound.

Thanks Nate, and congrats on the upcoming 2nd baby.

Thankfully, Reaper has a couple more years left on his rookie deal, although I'm sure Rosenhaus will be in danny's ear about a new contract sooner rather than later.

It would have been better for us if he was a RFA vs. UFA to be honest....

He will not be looking to be the highest paid TE, but he will be looking to get at least the avearge of the Top 5 paid TEs in the league, especially if he beast out this year.......

vertical line, of those guys, I'd like to see Holdman/Koz/Molinaro all sign with OTHER teams ... and before the owners' meeting ... so the Skins can get more guys in compensatory pick bingo.

No doubt 4th. That's why I hope they have cap room to extend him before this season starts. If they don't, he'll have a Tony Gonzalez type of year and break the bank elsewhere.

Congrats to the new pappas!

Some people seem to have trepidation about going from 2 to 3 kids. It's no big thing, we just switched up the coverage, no more man to man. Cover 2, zone....no worries.

The compensatory pick for Holdman would be what, going last in next Christmas' Yankee swap?

Holdman, Koz, Molinaro. Wow. We'd definitely get about an 8th round compensatory pick for those guys.

Hmm, first ODU loses and now GW is quickly falling behind.

As long as the DC-area school mojo gets back on track by the time VCU meets Duke tonight...

Baseball fans FYI...Bowie Kuhn died today at age 80.

Oops, it's between 5 and 5:30. The blog is homeward bound.

GW looks like the 'Skins did last preseason. 36-14.

Nate is gettin' done early - 7 for 7 in the NCAA pool. Few 6 of 7s in the group as well. Good job peeps.

sorry guys, with march madness starting and fantasy baseball coming around the bend, I will be doing other dorky things with my guts in the upcoming future... I feel I cannot express my feelings adequately so I will borrow the words of the brilliant Dwight Schrute:

May I have your attention please. This will only take a moment of your time.

Although I love this blog more than almost anything in the world, I have decided to step down from my post and spend more time with my family. I do not fear the unknown. I will meet my new challenge head on and I will succeed and I will laugh in the faces of those who doubt me. It's been a pleasure blogging with some of you and I will not forgot those of you soon. But remember, while today it is me... we all shall fall.

In other words, I won't be BMGO as much.

Go Dorf on Basketball! The winner of the bracket should win a free shabingus polo.

We could slap franchise tag on Cooley. Do any of our guys have one right now? I think he's tag worthy.

My gawd y'all are a fertile/virile bunch way to go!

41-14. Good gracious

sfskins- Nobody's tagged right now. Hopefully they can avoid it since that seems to lead to serious friction between the player and team. I think Lance Briggs now says he won't play for the Bears because they tagged him.

GW down 45-20 at the half. I'll be the optimist and say they won the last 2 minutes of the half 6-5.

LH, my happy run of chalk picks ends here.

My lone upset pick in these first eight games was GW. And, ahem, I had them upsetting Wazzoo in the second round. So there are at least two points I ain't getting back.

Good grief, Dorf, you can't be serious??

Take some time off. Sleep on it. Come back refreshed and better than ever.

4-12 - Briggs is mad because he couldn't go out on the market and get $ shoved up his a$$. Now one part of me sees his point as it is a business and employees should be duly compensated. On the other hand, I'm not crying for a guy whose gonna make $7.5 mill. If he just shut his pie hole and played the year and kicked butt he'd be compensated next year.
All that being said I don't think Cooley has the same attitude. I could be waaaay off but he strikes me as more of a team guy. I don't think Briggs gives a shti about Chicago or the Bears.

Good call Nate. I tried to back off the last few days, and now I can't stop today. Either that, or the chick (sorry... lady) down the hall brewed regular in the decaf pot here at work again.

sfskin- Yeah, Briggs will definitely get compensated if he signs the one year deal. It's a guaranteed contract.

Nate - I picked dumbest upset - Texax A&M CC win in first and second rounds because I read some stupid story about them in SI. I'm such a sucka.

Ha-Ha!

Franchise Cooley? I realize he's a good player and fan favorite, but is he a top 5 TE-worth Tony Gonzalez-money? I agree the skins should try to extend him before the season so it doesn't become an issue.

And yeah I had ODU also. At least I didn't have them going beyond the next round. The terps are likely to be my bracket buster.

Dorf, that was beautiful. As I wipe a tear from my cheek, I'm wondering whether your post isn't a harbinger of things to come ... lots of harbinging coming up ... when JLaC clocks out for a while (maybe till the draft itself) and Cyn Cyty will come to rely on the RI blognation to guestblog its guts out.

To borrow a word from Steve Martin as Theodoric of Yorik, "naaah".

sfskin, amusing image you paint about Lance Briggs. I agree that he should have kept his yap shut, like Nate Clements did for the two years he was tagged, and wait for the celestial payday in the sky (or, in Clements' case, San Fran).

From everything I've heard, I don't think we know that much about Cooley as a "team guy" -- except that the "team" gets free access to the weight room and other team stuff, like cheerleaders.

As for my own fecundity, I gotta say I'm a little nervous about essentially being a single father working Cover Two for the months when my betrothed becomes a sleep-deprived zombie toting a parasite.

Soapbox Shout Out (SSO)

Does stupid Alan Greenspan KNOW he IS NOT Fed Chair anymore?!?! Mr. Irrational Exuberance needs to go home and keep Andrea happy!

Sourcing the "HA ha"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Muntz

sfskin- Let him run his mouth a little more...give me another 5-6% drop, then I'm buying everything.

Now is as good a time as any to note that I have, um, Oregon going to the final game. Yes, ridiculous Oregon from the stupid Pac-10. Going to the championship game. Riiiiiiight.

I got all excited about being on the 'Beaver Fever' bandwagon until I realized too late that that's Oregon State. I am a dope.

Cue Nelson.

dcsween - I think you should whisper "Baby I love you cause you're a sleep-deprived zombie toting a parasite" into mrs dcsween's ear and soon #4 will be on the way. : ) Such a sweet talker! : )

Ha ha!

60-29, 10 minutes to go. GW has 'em right where they want 'em.

Yikes I had GW also. Where are the upsets danm it!

Due to the dearth of upsets so far, I'll make the call now. A 1 or 2 seed will lose in the first round.

'Beaver Fever' LMAO Nate. How'd I miss that one.

Cue Warner Wolf: If you had GW and 32 points, YOU LOST!

Oh yeah, this is a Redskins blog. Todd Wade...glad you're back. Good depth at tackle, or maybe you slide inside to LG.

Football Alert: The NFL Network just reported that Daniel Snyder was at Calvin Johnson's Pro Day today....hmmmm

However re: my previous note....Calvin Johnson will be gone before pick #6

OK, we have lived with Snyder for 8 years now, we should know him by now.

The MEDIA, Including NFLN, hypes up Daniel Snyder to bring Attention to certain peeps for certain reasons, in this case it's Johnson. I'm sure other owners come out to pro days, but no one, Including NFLN reports that. This is gigantic news.

This is RI so what do we know? We know that Gibbs 2.4 runs the Football Operations and Snyder runs the Marketing. Don't be fooled by the MEDIA, including the WP......

Time Stamp - 7:14pm EST

Going home now. Peace

I meant this ISN'T gigantic news.....

4th Floor, I did not mean it was gigantic news - and the NFL Network did not make a big deal of it, they just mentioned it - I was just sharing the news.

What Nate in the PDX didn't say (and maybe didn't notice?) is that "Beaver Fever" is all about NCAA BASEBALL, as the Beavers are defending national champions. The team he picked to go to the Final Four (the Oregon Schmucks, uh, I mean Ducks) aren't bad at basketball, but are likely to make the Final Four only if their scheduled opponents forfeit every game.

Lisa do you have the TVs in your house tuned to different sports shows? So you run room to room so you can run to your computer and be the first to report the news?Makes you feel like you fit in? Dont worry honey all you have to do is talk about how good players are even when youve never seen them play? Seems to be alot of that on this blog?ITA

God site. Thanks!

Love the idea of Wade starting at guard. It would be great to discover an overlooked gem in free agency rather than overpay for decent numbers and a lot of hype, like we usually do. Perhaps for every Adam Archuleta there's a Todd Wade out there someplace.

So I think any agent who uses the "Skins are intersted" line to drive up their players price should be forced to give 100% of the agents cut back to the team. Or the offended team "in this case the Skins" should get the option of a traid for a 7th rounder. But I am sick of every agent using Snyder to ad 1.5m to the players signing bonuse

Is anyone else surprised that the Danny doesn't charge a fee to some agents for showing up at workouts of players the Skins have little interest in? I mean, if he was "smart" enough to charge tickets for training camp ...

sfskin - I also picked A&M-CC as my only 15-2 upset in the first round. What the hell. I dont see Wisconsin going far ..

F Duke. Go Skins

Nate or pulldownclaw, did either of you have VCU to beat Duke? Very niiiice. wa wa weh wa.

Number one, the Skins are there to scout Landry. Number two, I absolutely believe they are discussing Russell in some way. They won't do it, but why not discuss it if the guy is that tight. Everything I have seen of him, watching games, and heard from scouts, is that he is so tight. ArtMonktotheSticks disagrees with me and thinks Russell is not tight. ArtMonktotheSticks also refuses to watch The Wire. Take that into consideration.

Just for giggles... The Skins trade Tampa their #6, B. Lloyd and next years #1 for Tampa's #4 and their 2nd (#35). That gives us Calvin and Jarvis Moss DE from Florida.

Gibbs is Dying to have more WR that can catch. Now we have our Monk (Johnson) our Clark (Moss) and our Sanders (Antwan)

Two tall DE's.

Before you jump on me - I am just pushing things around. I honestly hope we just trade down to acquire more picks.

From the nfl.com site describing the Georgia Tech Pro Day: "Sixty NFL personnel were in attendance, including a prominent contingent from the Washington Redskins: Dan Snyder (owner), Joe Gibbs (head coach), Al Saunders (offensive coordinator), Vinny Cerrato (vice president of football operations) and Jack Burns (offensive assistant)."

THAT has to mean something. Looking at the other offensive guys working out for Ga. Tech, there are two tight ends, a tackle, and a QB/WR, all of whom are unranked. Unless the Skins contingent was there for NASCAR, I can't figure out how they wouldn't be looking at anyone other than Calvin Johnson ... which looks like moving up, not down in the draft. Could this be elaborate disinformation? Who is CJ's agent and, if its Next Question! Rosenhaus, what do the Skins get for this fancy fakeout? Or is there a chance someone (Tampa?) takes the Skins #6 and maybe Lloyd? With Santana, ARE, and Lloyd on the roster, how does it work if they add Calvin Johnson?

I'm perplexed and ready to start jumping to conclusions. If I could only figure out which conclusions to jump to ...

Glad to see Duke bounced, of course, but they're the worst bust of my bracket so far. I had them advancing to the Sweet 16, but losing.

Everything else looking good so far :-)

Damn, I love the Tournament!

hail to 'em, I swear I didn't see what you put up before I posted, but it works. The only thing that makes me nervous about Jarvis Moss: "Plagued by a pelvic injury since high school. Suffered a hernia 2003 and a staph infection in 2004. Spent six weeks in the hospital prior to the 2005 season."

I wonder if its even possible for someone already in the sights (Okoye?) to drop all the way to the top of the second round. It would be nice if there were a way to get BOTH CJ and a top DE or DT or CB with a high second round pick (esp. if re-tradeable up to a low first round).

I'm guessing that this CJ idea is one of three or four "scenarios" the FO is working up. When stuff starts flying in the five 15 minute intervals before #6, probably a good idea to have Plan B (and C through G). I know that, in addition to figuring out what they want, they need to try to figure out what everyone else wants/might do too.

How can this work for the Skins? The same way its with free agency. Mortgage the future. Prediction: The Skins FO trades away most of next year's draft in order to draft early this year.

Lisa - i'm guessing that teams send people to all the pro-days of top 10 draft prospects since one never knows what might happen. Still the Danny being there is interesting.

Is there a Six Flags in the area? : )

The Danny came because he wanted to be in the news and that's it. He got what he wanted. The guy is smart, just not football smart. That's what he got Gibbs 2.4 for...

Sween - This is def disinformation. Let's go back to 2 years ago when we had #9. Chris Mortenson breaks Gibbs cover by reporting he not only went to Auburn to look at Double Move, but he also went to take a hard look at Campbell and we might trade to get him in the 1st round. Gibbs denied that thing to the point you believed him, until they actually pick'd him.....

Also. 2.4 is always willing to trade for the future and the future is Calvin Johnson.......

Time Stamp - 12:14am EST

The internet is officially complete:
Arch Deluxe!

Wonder why there are so few pics of him in skins gear... his jersey would be pretty clean...

c&d - outstanding find! Unless it said so in the small type in right hand corner you really wouldn't know Arche is a Skin . . . hmmmm just set up the obvious one with that statement.

I'm still willing to give him a shot next season. I think he deserves it. Plus so do we since his contract is tying us up cap wise - of course that is a good thing.

I imagine the Danny wanted some publicity other than Nanny $911k story.

For all you Campbell soup Luvers,Gibbs & all the coaches & owner at Russells workout should tell you what they think of noodles ability to start? and dont bring your stupid Secret agent covert sh** to say they were fooling people(THEYRE not SMART enough)??

To the commenter above, if you read our comments, Skins and CO were NOT at Russell's, workout...they were at Johnson's workout....different position!!!!!

C&D- no doubt... great find.

I, for one, am hoping that this is Arch's old website. I mean, how awful is it that the guy hates it here so much that he has absolutely zero pics of himself in a Skins uniform (even if it is a picture of him punt protecting his guts out).

The only thing worse than that would him being the highest paid safety in NFL history... oh wait.

To the commenter above name Lisa,I dont need to read your Dumb comments to know Snyder & CO WERE at Russells workout.

Family you know what time it is. (yes Nate I know I should ITA) iblowmen double smack to the back of your damn head! Now step off clown.

Oh jm220 thank you thank you for being sooooooo tough with that bad ITA post,Ill think about you at the gym today!And I know you will think about me in the BATHROOM!!

jm220 do you really blow men as you posted?

As a fact point, Vinny and Jack Burns did go to the LSU Pro Day (Russell, Landry). Also, Jack Burns went to the Arkansas Pro Day (Anderson).

Assclown alert. Happy Friday, everyone.

Triple force electric ninja smacks to the back of the head.

Cue the 'blog stinks' guy. He hates me.

$nyder didn't go to LSU or Arkansas. Obviously, not sure of the actual travel plans for other college Pro Days, but I heard that Adams and Carriker are supposed to visit Redskins Park individually, so maybe travelling for a Pro Day becomes irrelevant for those types.

iblowmen/fake Lisa/fake sfskin, welcome to the RI blog. Do you have anything interesting to discuss re: the Skins? Forgiveness is quick here, but so is ignoring.

jm220, I'm sure you know that last comment was not from me....and the other was not from sfskin either....from now on I will ITA.

Yes Lisa I know that wasn't from you.

GREEN 40!!!!!!!!

GREEN 40!!!!!!!!

Sorry, turrets is acting up.

Anyway, I am loving the fact that the Skins showed a little restraint this off-season. Yes, their hand was somewhat forced (see: cap status due to horrible, horrible personnel moves of the past), but it was still nice to see.

Speaking of horrible moves, I was just telling a buddy that I cannot get over the Arch and Lloyd deals. And even though Scott Boonell did lead us to the playoffs in '05, I still cannot get over his deal either, which not only gave a 34-year old QB a 7-year 43 mill deal, but also included a 3rd round pick.

Which of these 3 moves haunts you the most? I guess Arch and Lloyd, and maybe even Boonell, will have their chance to turn it around this year, but as of right now, which of these 3 moves makes you so angry you want to go punch a goat?

Good to see you in the house, Ricky Bobby. Missed having you around. But if the Skins FO continues to show this atypical restraint and deliberation, there won't be much to rant about until the season. (Were you one of the dudes considering dropping your season tix package? Did you?)

I think Archuleta is the worst call of those three. Making a guy the top paid at his position, a guy for whom there was not demand around the league, and then finding out he couldn't actually play in this defense, and then benching him halfway through the season... that is AWFUL.

Lloyd could have been another Coles or Moss, a career #2/#3 WR who blossomed into a star here. He has not done so yet. But I think it's the second most egregious pickup of last offseason, after Arch and before Duckett and Fauria.

I'm willing to forgive Gibbs on the Brunell signing because he had to have a veteran QB, and Mark saved his life. Sticking with Brunell through nine games last season, before finally turning to Soupy, is what I find unforgivable there.

RB, the goat feels my wrath about Lloyd. First punch is for both Lloyd and Arch, mostly b/c of the length of the deals and how much guaranteed money is in them. The stupidity of locking up so much money for so long without an out gets me so fired up that I want to smack all livestock in general. The reason the goat gets it again is hiring a guy who is KNOWN lockerroom poison. The first time the goat gets kicked is that Lloyd actually started delivering ... the pre-season mouthing off to Stan Hixon ... blaming his complete whiff in New Orleans on JC ... and then the helmet throw. Finally, I want to drop a cartoon anvil on the goat for the fact that, shortly after arriving in DC, his wife has their child ... who is going to have be raised by this @ss-whole ... and the mother who now has to raise this real baby in addition to her man-baby.

Bad goat.

Did I pass personal judgment on Lloyd? Yes. Please start throwing stones at my glass house. Does Lloyd deserve his package? Please start throwing the broken glass.

On Archuleta, I'm willing to let that one go as his bye year, but Nate has it about right. The explanation about AA's inabilities in pass coverage is missing.

Brunell? The tear in the time-space continuum has been mended with the re-structured contract. All is good on that front. Even if he has to start a game again, he's only going to be making 'Brad Johnson money,' i.e., starting w/o starter pay. That would be the refund.

I went from first to worst in the RI pool, even though I had VCU over Dook.

Whiffed on GW, Gonzaga, Marquette, and BYU. Everyone else in the RI pool only missed three yesterday, which is pretty darn impressive.

Brunell's deal was a slam-dunk win for Gibbs, considering the shabingus that Spurrier left us with at QB. The money was/is not an issue (didn't keep them from spending serious cash last year); the 3rd round draft pick was definitely overpaying, but when you choose your QB, you want to get him as soon as you can. If it'd been a 5th-round pick, no one would be complaining (ok, someone would still complain). Now, with his cap-friendly renegotiation that is also cut-friendly if his recovery is incomplete, the Brunell era is over.
Lloyd is a core "bad guy", not a core "Redskin". If the team had chosen to gamble on him with their eyes wide open, that would be one thing, but the 'Lost Season' articles showed that the FO failed to identify and document those intangibles.

Nate, your pox was picking against Michigan State. Are you up early or are you in NYC? Was the NY blog crawl this past Monday/Tuesday or next? Did anybody catch chris Larry and the Hecklers last weekend?

New Skins thought ... about the draft trade value chart. Given how the FA market had a MAJOR post-CBA re-calibration favoring the players, I think that the value of draft choices vs. players also changed significantly. The value of draft picks increased in relation to players. Because of the trend and uncertainties about what the re-calibration might mean for players that are actually good, that makes NEXT year's picks even MORE valuable, esp. compared to picks this year.

Seeing how Gibbs already traded away a future first rounder to get someone he wanted (JC), bet money that it happens again. The Skins' current "rationality" may be less actual voluntary restraint than forced reality due to the cap and past moves. This rationale offseason might be a big amoeba that, when pushed, bloops out as a completely irrational looking draft trade shabingus.

I don't know what to think about Archi. He clearly has some physical talent, but just as clearly competes with Taylor at the "my title is 'safety' but I'd rather just lay the wood" position. So WTF was Grilliams thinking?
Now, there's the deferral of his $5M roster bonus. The only way to explain that in a way that makes sense to me is if they went to him and said "we're gonna pay you the $5M, but when we do, you will be untradeable, and if we can't find a way to use you on the field you can buy your own plasma TV and Sunday Ticket package. Now, if you give us some time on the $5M, maybe we can work a trade where the new team pays you the $5M and can either deal with the other terms of the contract or renegotiate -- your call."

cload, that makes sense to me. I remember that Lovie was loving Archuleta, and right now, the Bears have NO strong safety. Archuleta seems like a stand-up, keep your mouth shut guy that might help on a team competing with the Bengals for crimes and that has Boo Hoo Briggs. The idea of Chicago as a draft pick trade partner is one of my faves. Toss in Archuleta, and this is more savory than the scenario with Lloyd going to Tampa Bay (in order to snag CJ).

dcsween, I'm in Portland this morning (early call with east coasters) and in NYC Monday and Tuesday.

Monday night NYC RI meet-up: jm220 and Jeff Hayes confirmed. (Lisa is NOT driving up for this. We're too proud to beg.)

Tuesday night NYC RI meet-up: connskins confirmed.

Still waiting to hear from chris Larry, Bucktown Skins Fan, any other NYC peeps.

NYC is getting clobbered with snow today, right?

Nate,

Thanks, it's good to be back. Over the last month or so I bought a house and changed jobs, so I've definitely been treating the blog like a red-headed step child.

Oh, and my season tickets... I know I complain a lot, but I also love this team like no other... so yes, I will be sending in my payment... but not until the last day. I don't want Napolean collecting any more interest off of me than he already does.

Hysterical posts by you and sween as well. I completely forgot to mention the Duckett trade, which probably comes before the Brunell/Lloyd deals for me. But Arch has to be number 1. You pay Ed Reed or Brian Dawkins, Ed Reed and Brian Dawkins money. You don't pay a personal punt protector who can't cover Ed Reed and Brian Dawkins money. I guess I really won't get over any of these deals until they are finally off the books.

dudes, we have like 21 people in our pool!!
never occured to me to click on the link to expand the listing. the whole time i'm going..."that's it! we only got 10 people to do this?!"...

sfskin, you're making me look good for picking you to win it all...AND you're kicking nate's and diddy's ass!

You know, maybe I'm drinking the kool-aide, but I'm more with Briggs than the Bears on that one. The franchise tag is what it is -- part of the CBA that gives a team the ability to hold on to a player or receive some value if they end up letting him go. If the Bears were negotiating on a long-term deal, everything would be okay. But they seem content to pay the franchise amount, which sounds like a lot of money but is less than he could get on the open market -- and if he gets hurt, he gets screwed.
And then D'Angelo comes out and beats his chest about haw hard he had to struggle to clear cap space to afford the franchise number, like it's some sort of favor he's doing, ugh! C'mon, now (to quote Terrell Davis).

Sween,

I know you know this, but the problem with the way the Skins have worked these recent deals is that guys like Arch and Lloyd (the latter probably not having any trade value anyway) become completely untradeable. The cap hits associated with a trade of either of these guys would be astronomical, especially for a team with cap issues (see: Vinny/Danny/Gibby begging players to restructure year after year).

I hope this off-season was a step in the right direction as far as bad (meaning reckless) personnel moves go.

Nate, what's the plan? I'll come out and grab a beer or two. I might need to be a last minute decision on which night, but I'll try to make it out Monday...

Like the stock market its the compounding effect of our bad moves thats the killer.One in isolation ok but giving away draft choices, paying way too much for guys that are bad fit. ouch.

Re: Briggs. Cry me a river, he's only gonna make a guaranteed 7M this year. Guys get franchised every year, a couple complain. Maybe he should give a phone call to Trotter or Deion Branch and see how they feel now looking back about holding out and complaining before finally getting released or traded. Buck up and agree to sign the 1 year deal under the agreement he won't be franchised again next year. He is still young and can get his ridiculous signing bonus next year.

Bucktown, it's on... Zum Schneider (7th St and Ave C), 7pm-ish on Monday. I know it's a school night, so I won't keep you kids out late.

The Duckett deal was a hedge against Portis not coming back, so it was smart at the time... but when Portis went out and Duckett didn't play, that deal started to stink. What did he get, about a half dozen carries? Boo on the Duckett deal.

But Duck and Arch were both classy about the way things went down, seemingly good guys to have around. BLloyd does not seem like a good guy to have around.

Ricky Bobby, I get the sense that you're pacing yourself, the offseason training regimen building up steam slowly so that by September you'll be in fine rant form. Congrats on the new house and jobbie job. Good stuff.

Old School,

I hear ya... I've been saying the same thing for years.

For example, the trade to draft Cooley in 04. We trade a 3rd rounder for Boonell who was going to be cut anyway. So now we have no 3rd to get Cooley, which means we have to trade a 2nd in 05 to get him. Well, then in 05 we have no 2nd to either draft Campbell or use as trade bait for that deal, so we have to shell out 3 more picks for him... and so on and so on.

You can draw up a similar scenario for any of the trades involving picks we have done. PUNCH A GOAT!!!

Old School,

I hear ya... I've been saying the same thing for years.

For example, the trade to draft Cooley in 04. We trade a 3rd rounder for Boonell who was going to be cut anyway. So now we have no 3rd to get Cooley, which means we have to trade a 2nd in 05 to get him. Well, then in 05 we have no 2nd to either draft Campbell or use as trade bait for that deal, so we have to shell out 3 more picks for him... and so on and so on.

You can draw up a similar scenario for any of the trades involving picks we have done. PUNCH A GOAT!!!

cload, on Briggs, see Nate Clements. Clements was franchised twice. Bills got the better end of that deal, at least in comparison to what he got in his glorious payday. Bills had to make a decision about what they could afford, just like the Bears are having to do. Briggs is an outstanding player, but would he be as outstanding if he wasn't behind guys like Alex Brown or Ogunleye? next to a guy like Urlacher? Clements didn't have that kind of supporting cast, but he kept his mouth shut. Briggs comes off as a cry baby. In the end, it will effect his ultimate payday.

Ricky Bobby, re: the tradability of guys like Archuleta and Lloyd, I'm ready to bite on cload's theory that the agreement to defer AA's $5M bonus is b/c AA is willing to explore the opporunity to get traded that includes the chance to re-negotiate. Agreed that Lloyd is essentially untradable, which is why the Calvin Johnson scenario with Tampa Bay makes no sense to me.

That's 7 points for Rocky Bobby. Bucktown, JM220, Nate...looking forward to knocking a few back on Monday. Where in the world is Chris Larry?

To say NYC is getting clobbered with snow is a vast overstatement. More weather porn from the networks I'm afraid. Last day on the job...can't wait to get the F out of here. Feels more like summer break than snow day.

Hilarious hijinks from the greater Portland area... Tonya Harding is never not funny.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/03/15/tonya.harding.ap/index.html

The Archuletta signing was always and will continue to be, utterly inexplicable. The dude cannot cover offensive players. It's not like he forgot how once he got here. He's slow, not quick enough to adjust, and one of the worst coverage safeties in the history of the NFL. Any scout who has seen NFL football games would tell you the same thing. We've beaten him up enough on this blog (meaning I have talked more schizen about him than a septic tank operator).

His acquisition last year is going to cost us LaRon Landry this year. I will never forgive him for that.

cdubb -- have they offered the 'no tag next year' option to him? Not from anything I've heard... which isn't much. I don't care to listen to him whine, but that doesn't mean he has no point.

Somebody needs to break in and wax those eyebrows.

I thought Clements was only tagged once, and part of his deal on returning was that they couldn't use the tag again?
If they did that for Briggs, then we're square. But there's a reason why guaranteed money and longer-term contracts are the norm in the NFL.

AMTTS,

That about sums it up. I honestly think, and I'm sure many agree, that it was a total ego-driven move by Grilliams. He knew Arch sucked in coverage (man, that Romo to Witten pass, which should have lost us that game at home, still makes me angry). But Grilliams thought he could coach him up like the OBC used to do. NOPE.

But that's not the thing that bothers me. I mean, if you think a guy needs work in one (okay, a few) parts of his game and you want to coach him up, FINE. But give him a modest contract or let someone else sign the guy. Don't give a one-dimensional player more money that Ed Reed and Brian Dawkins.

It's asanine and will haunt us for years to come (see Old School's previous post re compounding).

Nate, have you ever heard the term "mission creep"? In the Harding link, you may notice something commonly referred to as "trailer creep."

On the 'expectant dads' discussion from yesterday, I remember the advice that has saved my @$$ more than once, "When mommy's happy, everyone is happy. When daddy is happy, no one cares." [and sfskin thought I wasn't a sweet talker.]

WOW dcsween you know the travel plans of Snyder? Im sure the reporters who reported seeing him were actually fooled by the FO double to trick them so Snyder could really be with Calvin? Great scoop dcsween!

cload, I've earned my morning ITA. Trying to confirm what I thought I read about Clements being tagged twice, the only thing I could find about any player tagged twice was Vinatieri, in non-consecutive years. My bad. Clements did have the deal where he agreed to shut up if the Bills agreed not to tag him again. Under the CBA, a team CAN tag player three times (but the third tag is the one that really runs up the cash register). My bad.

I couldn't believe I picked ODU over Butler. Oh, well.

What is the prize for winning this thing?

35332, ??? Not sure whether that is sarcasm. I didn't say that Snyder wasn't at Ga. Tech, I just said I couldn't figure out why.

The nfl.com site, on the Pro Day page, has some lines about who came to which Pro Day. Snyder is listed as having attended the Ga. Tech Pro Day (w/Saunders, Gibbs, Vinny, Burns). Vinny & Burns are reported to have been at the LSU Pro Day. Burns is listed as having gone to the Pro Days in Arkansas and Michigan State.

Don't read almost anything into what workouts the FO attends. Firstly, there are other fringe prospects for later rounds we need to scout. Secondly, there needs to be due dilligence for our first round pick. You never know what will happen, so teams must be prepared for any situation. We also want to blow some smoke about who we want.

Don't worry about us being down at LSU. WE HAVE A PLAN.

no prob -- just trying to make the point that the nature of the job tends to favor a contract that has some guaranteed money and a longer term; that's what I'd want if I were in his shoes.
And the Bears' handling of this situation -- particularly after their mishandling of Lovie Smith -- does not inspire confidence.

Oh yeah, it's Friday.

2 TCCLs for weather porn.

3 TCCLs for J-La for posting his guts out on the eve of his paternity leave.

4 TCCLs for Cyn City, as a down payment for covering which J-La is indisposed.

5 TCCLs for VCU.

In honor of Duke getting their tickets home handed to them last night by VCU, I give you the gift of laughter... at their expense (reposted from our NCAA Tourney Pick'Em messageboard):

I apologize to all of the Duke fans in this group (if there are any), but even if you like Duke, this is very well done and extremely funny. If you hate Duke, like me, this is simply amazing (contains cursing for those of you worried about workplace appropriateness):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fYOgC2Qbqh4

"The Danny came because he wanted to be in the news and that's it. He got what he wanted. The guy is smart, just not football smart. That's what he got Gibbs 2.4 for...

Sween - This is def disinformation. Let's go back to 2 years ago when we had #9. Chris Mortenson breaks Gibbs cover by reporting he not only went to Auburn to look at Double Move, but he also went to take a hard look at Campbell and we might trade to get him in the 1st round. Gibbs denied that thing to the point you believed him, until they actually pick'd him.....

Also. 2.4 is always willing to trade for the future and the future is Calvin Johnson.......

Time Stamp - 12:14am EST

Posted by: $th Floor via Home Floor | March 15, 2007 11:14 PM "

Thought this repost might be relevent to the topic......

The prize for winning is that you get to be sort of a 'virtual GM' on the blog here, getting to describe what you would do if you were the skins FO; the only requirement is that you have to commit to doing it every day for the next four months.
Or you can choose to get the garden gnome...

Damn pitiful. You hammerdicks just amaze me. By the way, who knows where I can get some Mongolian stir-fry?

sween- I did have VCU, mostly cuz I'm an alum, and do live in Richmond. What a game, gotta love the Dookies 'goin down hard. We'll see about Pittsburgh.

Good work up here, I've been tuned out for awhile with annoying other stuff like work and home life, plus it's hard to take the re-hashing of all things Skins related. I will perk back up when we get closer to draft day. Big Ups to all the regulars who keep it rollin.

cload - Hadn't heard if Briggs approached the Bears about the "no franchise next year" agreement or if they offered it. If the Bears refused that, I'd side a little more with Briggs. But I got a hard time feeling bad for a guy about to get paid 7M.

South Park's city wok (aka shtty wok) probably has good stir fry. That dude loves Mongowians.

I'm sorry...probably in the minority here but I'm not feeling all the anti-Arch sentiment.

Yes, it was a bad deal for the FO. Yes, Grilliams was bull-headed and arrogant (surprise!) trying to involve him against the pass.

BUT, I think Arch could become a stud in run support if they use him the right way in '07. Something we seriously lacked last year.

If arch was that bad, and everyone in the league knew it, how possibly could the skins look at all the film of him and sign him to a contract like they did ? thats whats so scary about this front office...
Another thing.. if the Moss/Aaron Rogers deal goes down.. how will that affect the draft ?? will they then take calvin johnson ? what will it be ?
Raiders Johnson
Detroit Russell
Arizona (trade w/Browns) Thomas
TB ???
Brown Peterson
Skins ???

What I remember from last year's defense is that the Redskins invariably gave up a long reception or three. The problem with Arch and even the Reaper is that they aren't great in handling deep coverage. Arch is supposed to be a good run stopper, the Reaper is amazing at making receivers scared to go across the middle. But the deep ball... our nemesis. Sure, our cornerbacks didn't help us last year, but the real key for the defense seemed to me to be lack of pressure on the quarterback (19 sacks in 2006 v. 35 in 2007 (source nfl.com)). So, what's changed? On the line, nothing -- same personnel. At linebacker, Fletcher with 2 sacks last year v. Marshall with 1.5. Not seeing a change. Smoot may help, but he fell to third string for the Vikings of all teams. Not sure he'll really allow us to blitz more. But, I have hope...

Wahoowa. Let's go, UVa.

Bucktown - That clip is a classic. At the end of the game, you could tell that Duke felt the game should be given to them and wanted VCU just to lay down for them.

Not to compare them to the great G-town teams, but defensively, G-town is the only team I have ever seen go full-court-press for the ENTIRE game. VCU is the only other.

BT, what about Arkansas' 'Forty Minutes of Hell' defense under Nolan Richardson? Those dudes were awfully fun to watch.

(And I'm picking the Razorbacks as a 5-12 upset over USC today.)

A buddy of mine is in Sacramento for the tourney games and reports that he got to hang out with the Indiana cheerleaders for a few minutes yesterday. He said they look very, very young.

Cue the Wooderson "...they stay the same age" clip.

Nate, remind me when I see you to tell you an Indiana cheerleader story... hahaha

vpar;

After the Arch signing, a anonymous FO exec from another team said something close tot his,"I dont know what they are doing. 5 years in the league and he gave it his all, but everyone can see his body is spent..."

I remember the Draft and they were following Arch and his agent, having him do all kinds of crazy workout stunts to gain mass. His slight frame that he turned big was never meant to dish out as much as he has. 5 years of punishment has depleted his will to hit.... whhich you could see last year, hesitating, missing tackles... Sadly #40 will probably never be good again (unless the FO is genius, knew this and 'held' him out to let him get a year of recoup!)

Not going to debate that Arh was a bad sign and that skins make mistakes but they take an undue amount heat for it from the press. Since Gibbs has been back they have made more good moves than bad. True that Arch and Lloyd are probably busts and Duckett was a mistake, but they have picked up a lot of good starters in free agency and trades - Thomas, Raybach, Randle El, Moss, Griffin, Washington, Springs, Portis, Sellers etc. Brunnell is even a good backup QB and got them to the second round of the playoffs in 2005 - he accomplished just as much or more for Washington in 2005 as Garcia did for the Beagles last year. Did they overpay for any of them? I don't know but they are $10 million under the cap.

And they have lots of starters they drafted too - contrary to what gets reported - Samuels, Jansen, Betts, Cooley, Campbell, Golston, Taylor Rogers, etc. So it's not nearly as bad as folks want to make it out to be.

I just want to see if the press gives the Beagles as much crap about overpaying for Kevin Curtis (6 years $32 million) as they did the Skins last year for "overpaying" for Randle El (7 years $31 million) - at least Randle can play multiple roles. And will the Pats be given as much crap for giving up a 2nd and 7th round pick for Wes Welker as the Skins did for giving up a 3rd and 4th for Lloyd? I'm not holding my breath on either one.

Greg, Very good points you raise. I agree that the FO has been overly criticized. However, most of the poor press about Arch and Lloyd came after they proceeded to suck for all of the 06 season. So, the jury is going to remain out on Walker and Curtis for a little while.

Curtis and Welker probably will both end up being good because of the qb's they got on those teams. If #85 would shut his mouth and play hard maybe he could do the same with Campbell.

Courtesy of Len Fatsquarelli

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2800846&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1

I do find it rather bizarre that AArch's website has only photos of him in the Ram's uniform. I mean he could put at least a COUPLE photos of him in a Skins uniform for only at least 5 million reasons (or whatever they're paying him.) Geez.

All of you were drinking the Adam,Carter,Randle el kool-aide last yr,Even going as far as SB talk.You also were drinking the rookie Kool-aide Rocky(did little) Gholston(avg if that)Like every yr, and this yr its the Fletcher,Smoot,Wade drink and rookie TBD? You now realize last yrs(and previous yrs) drink was sour,Explain why you continue to drink more???Your idiot evaluations of FAs who most of you only know from what you read including Rookies is comical.

I agree with all this, I think we take too much flak for our mistakes in the Snyder era. Yes we've had mistakes, but no more than other teams. We've also had a lot of success stories.

Archuleta is horrible, he is by far the worst. Trung Canidate is another. Lloyd is TBD, but doesn't look good. And Brunell, I don't think was bad. The money didn't matter, he didn;t really prevent us from gettig another qb who would have been better, and had 1 good year. But most everyone else has been pretty good for us.

The reason we lose is because we haven't had a solid qb since Rypien/Brad Johnson. It's a pretty obvious relation between years our qb plays well to when we have a good season. It's the same reason the colts and pats are always good.

Kool-aide overload/BOOFER you are an idiot. I know you are but what am I. blah blah blah. yap yap yap.

When the kool-aid is right (playoffs 2005) it tastes awful good. Mmm Mmm

What's myfavorite flavor? ...Red

Kool-aid? I think this is more of a beer and wine crowd. Nice hindsight evaluation of last years FA's. You're welcome to lend your "superior" insight anytime.

Wahoowa. The Cavs roll. Me likee.

From the scoreboard, Georgia Tech-UNLV looks like a hell of a game, close all the way. Anybody watching this?

Nate- It's on here in the DCA now that the Wahoos have taken care of bidness.

Though the Skins really only NEED to use the draft for defense (DT, DE, CB), some chatter says Saunders still wants another tight end (maybe insurance for Cooley's FA year next year). One of the guys the Skins talked to at the Combine was Zach Miller from Arizona State. At ASU, Zach was a "general studies" major. Sounds good to me. Reminds me of John Belushi in Animal House wearing a sweatshirt that said "college".

dcsween- Ah, so many great quotes of his that still take up precious brain cells in my head.
"Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the f*ing Peace Corps."

The kool-aide couldnt of been right 5-11 2006 Mmm Mmm I know you are but what am I. blah blah blah yap yap yap

sween,

I can't wait for the Skins to pick at 6, then trade up into the 2nd round (giving away 2 of their 3 first day picks in '08) to get a 3rd string TE.

cough, Rocky McIntosh, cough.

The "compounding" effect will never stop in Redskin land. It's not that I don't like McIntosh or Campbell or Cooley (all players we traded up to get), but we had to give up so many valuable picks to get them.

Other, more sucessful teams, don't tend to get in this pattern because they usually HAVE DRAFT PICKS IN EVERY ROUND. Heck, we're lucky if we have 4 for the entire draft.

Oh thank goodness, the Runnin' Rebels hung on. I have them upsetting Wisconsin in the second round, continuing my anti-Big 10 bias.

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

I think this is the best I've ever done in the bracket . . . of course now that I've said that it's all over.

Sorry kids I can't help it I'm trying to ITA but . . .
Umm real fans drink Kool-Aid it makes the shabingi go down easier plus it makes for sugar fueled induced nitpicky, hairsplitting, goat punching analysis.

I would like to officially name the anonymous/daveb55/boofer etc. poster our very own RI Anne Coulter. Nothing of substance to say just a pretty head that spews a lot of vitriolic crap just to get some airtime.

And hey it works with ITA cause A=Assclown and A=Anne Coulter.

Alrighty Ass Clown Coulter let me have it. Please make sure you include homophobic remarks cause it wouldn't be you without them.

Ready!
Set!
GO!

LMAO. Rest in Peace, Dean Wormer

Sorry to say this but in 2005 the rest of the NFC was really BAD and even though it was great to go to the playoffs, it was clear by our play(record for worst off performance in playoffs)against Tampa(who also sucked in 2006) that we didnt belong and why Gibbs got Saunders.Nfc teams are starting to get better and we still have majority of 2005 team and I agree with the to much kool-aide comment.Sorry

Who would you rather the Skins have to stop in Philly? Westbrook/Buckhalter or Westbrook/Ron Dayne?

Trick question. Eagles just re-signed Buckhalter, so Dayne looks elsewhere.

"No, vegetables are sensual. People are sensuous."

RB - Trading up to get Cooley was well worth it. Now we gotta get him resigned before next year. TBD on Campbell and McIntosh. Campbell has enough talent around him to be good. Would have been nice to see Rocky play a little more last year. Could be good, could be benching behind Lemar.

I thought we were a pretty darn good team at the end of 05. We won 5 straight to get into the playoffs and put up 30+ on Dallas, Philly, and the Giants during that stretch.

To this day I am still confused why (on the coattails of a 10-6/2nd round playoff season) Gibbs decided on mass changes (e.g. the entire offense) to a win now team with a win now QB.

A lot of guaranteed $$$ in Wade's deal. Definitely not one of those 2-year-but-really-only-1-year deals.

"Do you mind if we dance wit' yo' dates?"

Ricky Bobby - The offense still put up points last year. The defense played like crap.

Very early. But Wisconsin is in trouble. They can't score.

Ricky Bobby if you look at those last 5 wins youll see that the eagles didnt have Mcnabb,Cowboys didnt have both starting Off tackles(Wynn was allpro that day)and Giants got shut out by the Panthers in playoffs,The other two were below 500 teams.Portis didnt have his 3rd TD till those games,Those last 5 games were a big pot of kool-aide and All of us drank it!!2006 5-11 should tell you that??

DALLAS SUX

Daniels had 4 sacks against Dallas, not Wynn.

Only a dumbass dallas fan would counter a point about our OFFENSE scoring 30+ points against dallas by saying the boys were missing their OFFENSIVE LINEMAN!
I know dallas fans typically know very little about football fundamentals, but here's a news flash: Offensive Lineman do NOT play defense in the NFL!
I mean REALLY!

Sorry again, agreed that injuries in the NFC East near the end of 2005 helped the Skins make it to the playoffs. Your point is that opponents' injuries made the Skins look better than they were. By that logic, the Skins' injuries this year made other teams look better than they were in 2006 ... and the Skins look worse than they were. Injuries on the Skins in 2005 -- Springs and Brunell -- also help explain the Tampa Bay (and Seattle) games. [Q: Wasn't Portis a little banged up in the 2005 playoffs?]

What this demonstrates is that the 17 week season leads to injuries and that injuries hurt a team's record. Nate (in your sometimes role as Captain Obvious), can you confirm this?

cdubb,

I agree. I own 2 Skins jersey's and one of them is Cooley. I love the guy. I also like Campbell and Rocky.

The point I was trying to get across was that we never would have had to trade up to get Cooley, or Rocky, or maybe even Campbell, if we had actually kept our picks in those rounds.

So for example, we gave Jacksonville a 3rd rounder in the 04 draft for Brunell. I know some of you might argue that we wanted/needed him in here ASAP, another team could have gotten if he hit the open market, etc. But a) we finished 6-10 the year Brunell came in so obviously getting him in here early didn't matter and b) no other team would have come within 30 million of our ridiculous deal.

So let's say we wait until Jax cuts him, we sign him, AND WE KEEP OUR 3rd round pick.

So as the draft rolls along, and Cooley is still sitting there in the 3rd round, we take him with our pick. Oops, sorry. That pick is invested in Boonell. So instead of using our pick on him, we have to trade our 05 second rounder to get him. I mean, the ramifications of that one 3rd round pick in 04 continue on to this day. Would we have had to give up 3 picks to get JC if we still had our 2nd rounder in 05? Could we have used that pick and others as bait to get the deal done instead of sending our 1st in 06? If yes, who could we have gotten with that 1st rounder last year. Could we have traded back, drafted Rocky AND another player... oh, and still kept our 2nd round pick THIS year, which went POOF in the Rocky trade on draft day.

Sorry, I know I kind of went off, but this stuff ticks me off.

I also know that other teams trade up/down on draft day, and those decisions also come with scenarios like the one above. But we consistenly have the lowest number of draft picks, especially first day picks. Not having a pick in each round, like most teams, only results in us mortgaging the future year after year.

Compounding is my new favorite term, but boy does its meaning (in relation to my post) make me angry.

I'm with you RB on the draft pick rant. The Skins have def traded away more picks than made quality draft picks since 2000. They haven't given up any picks next year as far as I know so maybe they learned their lesson. Hope so but you have to have a little skepticism based on the FO history.

Sorry, 4Life not boy fan just dont drink kool-aide like you(ALOT)Anybody who watched that game saw us have short field the whole game because they couldnt protect Bledsoe, our first 4 scores were from 30yds and shorter,As for Portis sween he didnt do sh** for 9 weeks against healthy teams!Do you forget the jokes about him not seeing endzone?

RickyB, exactly my point about the amoeba earlier. MAYBE the Skins FO has become rational, but that can't be judged by the behavior in free agency alone. The FA behavior might just be a reality of the new CBA and the FO has been forced to behave rationally b/c of where they are with the cap. The proof of new rationality is going to come down to whether they continue to borrow against the future by trading next year's picks. So far, they have resisted the temptation (while other teams have already this FA season traded away next year's picks). No problem if they do lots of juggling and trading for picks with PLAYERS, but if they are start throwing in next season's Day One picks to get guys this year, then they get NO credit for rational behavior so far this offseason. It would mean they were forced to behave properly, not that they did so voluntarily.

Sorry again, I'll go figure this out myself, but I was talking about Portis at the end of 2005, not the first 9 games of 2006 (with the shoulder subluxation).

Sween on your injury comment, we did make other teams look better, all the really BAD teams, that even with injuries, if 2005 is what you base your hopes on then we shouldnt have lost to them??If we cant beat the really bad teams even with injuries then the problem is deeper??Not all of us drink Kool-aide and gat attacked for it?????

You draft to fill needs. If you desperately need a TE, you do what you have to in order to draft a quality TE (hence trade up). If you sit and wait to see if a player is still available in the later rounds, you run the risk of losing that player to another team. Then, you're stuck drafting a not so good TE, who could very likely not even make the final roster cuts at the end of training camp.

I agree the more draft picks, the better situation you're in, but sometimes trading a few away makes sense. Especially if you're looking for an immediate impact player (Cooley).

Wisconsin is getting crushed. Let the bracket busting begin.

Portis in the post-game after the 2005 wild card against Tampa Bay, "My shoulders were killing me," Portis said. "But Tampa has a great defense, and that is what great teams do."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/07/AR2006010701494.html

sween the first 9 wks of 2005 Portis sucked and couldnt find endzone!! Hope that clears up mistake?

sween- ITA. It's that same boofer/assclown/sorry/s.o.b. I wasted my time with last week.

cdubb,

Yeah, amazingly I think we do still have all of our picks AT THIS POINT. But I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that will not be the case in April 2008.

CBS Sportsline is the greatest. I've been watching/listening to games while I work. I love it.

To quote our lovable anonymous: Somebody farted on Wisconsin because they stink right now.

4-12 you must have stock in the kool-aide industry to be so paranoid? Sorry I just got tired of the let down and broke the glass! You should try it??

If we cant beat the really bad teams even with injuries then the problem is deeper??Not all of us drink Kool-aide and gat attacked for it?????

Posted by: Sorry again & again | March 16, 2007 02:52 PM

1. Nobody is denying that Skins have a big problem with depth generally b/c the starter gobble up too much cash so there's not much left for quality depth.

2. "Drinking kool-aid" refers to the people who committed suicide following Jim Jones in Guiana (sp?). With the Skins, its a disparaging remark for fans who believe in the team without skepticism. The response you're getting here is from optimistic fans who you are saying lack skepticism. The blog is nothing if its not about skepticism. Skepticism is different from cynicism. Cynicism is skepticism without the idealism. An offended cynic is tiresome, repeats old crap, brings nothing new or interesting for discussion.

"Food fight!"

Forget about Zach Miller at TE - he crumbles under pressure. Skins should draft the kid from Whitworth.

"Otis! My Man!"

4-12 LMAO!!

F the snow and ice!!

CL where are you brother?

Badgers close 1st half with 12-2 run. Now w/in 8.

"Now, she should be good-looking, but we're willing to trade looks for a certain morally casual attitude."

Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Long Beach do know that the tournament is single elimination don't they?

Germans? Don't stop him he's on a roll.

Damn, ND is coming back against Winthrop. The only thing better than Duke losing would be to have ND join them.

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hel* no!"
"Germans?"
"Forget it, he's rolling"

Oooh I think the garden gnome as prize for winning NCAA is excellent idea! It could become a yearly thing (it goes without saying that we're hear till death. Has it been given away already?

If we're truly clever, read have too much time on our hands, the winner will dress it up in Skins gear and take it out and photograph it in a famous or not famous locale a la travel website.

Lose Wisconin lose! I picked TAMCC as my mini cinderalls!

Holy Crapoly I jumped to 1 in the group standings! Luck o' the 1/4 Irish!

Now that is a man slam right there. LMAO! classic

Is it just me, or is Valerie Plame kinda hot?

If the Redskins FO is attending Pro Days for Johnson, Anderson, Landry and Hall, it's probably very safe to say that NONE of next year's draft pick